Helen

Sweet Helen. From the moment I met Helen she had the sweetest little smile on her face and was immediately interested not only who I was but what I liked to do, and all of my favorites. She spent several minutes firing me with question after question to learn more about me, which of course, like any typical teenage girl included boys and music. After finding some common interests, (Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, and Shakira to name a few) her and a few other girls decided it would be in my best interest to learn the dance to Shakira’s “Waka Waka.” As I struggled to make my body move like these girls, Helen just sat and quietly giggled in the corner. She is definitely one of the more reserved ones in the group, but she has the sweetest, most tender little heart and cares so deeply for everyone around her.

Choolwe

As I was sitting on the porch playing cards with some of the girls, out of the corner of my eye I see Choolwe doing something at the gate, so I decided to fixate my eyes for just a moment. I watched him for a minute struggle to get into the gate and the next thing I knew he was holding a dog that clearly did not want anything to do with him. The dog was squirming out of his hands, but determined as he is, Choolwe didn’t give up and pinned the dog down against his will, shielding himself from the dog snapping and biting at him. Finally after a few minutes of this he gave up and let the dog run away from under the gate. After watching this scene play out, he walked past casually and I asked him what he was doing to that dog, and he just gave me a little smirk while the girls replied, “He likes to play with dogs.”

Lusaka Friends

Today we finally got to meet our new friends who live in the Lusaka My Father’s House homes 1-4, just a few blocks away from the office. Immediately after stepping into the homes and meeting our friends for the first time, I could feel a drastic difference between the Lusaka and Chongwe kids. I have been trying to process and pin point what exactly that difference is, but the truth is I just can’t seem to figure it out. The Lusaka kids are overall a little bit older and have been established in these homes a little bit longer, but there is more to it than that. These kids –both in Lusaka and Chongwe each have such different personalities that make up who they are and it is so neat to be able to see that already. I wish I could explain myself a little bit better, but I hope to give you a little glimpse of what drastic personality differences I am talking about through the stories in these next few posts.  

Let the Poor say I am Rich

     The past two days have been pretty low key since the office closes and we do not have work on the weekends. At first I was a little bummed about the time away from my new friends after just meeting them, but it has turned out to be a great time of adjusting to the culture and lifestyle while bonding with my fellow interns.

     We spent several hours journaling and getting organized at a local internet café while people watching in the marketplace all around us. As we were sitting there taking it all in it was so fun to examine and mentally note all the differences in the culture. But probably one of the biggest things I have noticed in my time here is how relational the people are here. As I sat and watched people’s interactions with one another and even their interactions with us, I couldn’t help but notice how people just simply want to get to know you and are all super friendly. It has been interesting to truly immerse ourselves in the culture and see across the board the similarities and differences with regards to the American culture we are all used to.

     One thing that I did not expect when coming to Zambia though was the drastic demographic differences we have seen between the wealthy and poor. Today we spent some time at the internet café and then walked over to Mandahill, the local mall in Lusaka and I was honestly shocked when I saw how nice it was. Maybe it is totally arrogant and western of me to think this way, but coming into Africa I knew I would be exposed to extreme poverty, having the perception that would be the only thing I saw for the next two months. Clearly, after today that is not the case. As we walked around and saw all the expensive stores and restaurants, surrounded by the same materialistic world we live in every day in America, my heart broke even more for the kids living in Chongwe. How is it possible that just a few miles down the road there are kids running around the dirt roads, living off of one meal a day, without mothers and fathers, doing everything they can to not only take care of themselves, but also their brothers and sisters while these people enjoy the luxuries we so often take for granted every day? How is this fair? Why do these kids have so little while the people that surround me in this mall have so much? As I continued to wrestle with these thoughts, the Lord reminded me of these sweet words that have truly taken on a new meaning and truth in my heart.

 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."

2 Corinthians 8:9

“And now, Let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich. Because of what the Lord has done for us.”

These kids may not have the materialistic luxuries and lifestyles we saw these other Zambian families at the mall enjoying. They may have never even seen a place like that before. But I do know this: these kids are rich in God’s love and mercy and are all the more blessed because of it.

Day one in Chongwe

     Yesterday was our first day of working, and I am in love already. In the morning Humphrey (Zambian EOH Staff) picked us up from the local university where we are staying to start our first morning off in the office in Lusaka, where we will begin each of our days of work. Of course he came an hour later than expected, so we are quickly learning and adapting to the event-orientation lifestyle of the Zambian culture (time is never a priority). Each morning the staff opens with a devotional of prayer and digging into some scripture. As interns, we have now joined the makeup of a family the staff team resembles, and let me tell you how beautiful that dynamic is. From the moment we stepped off the plane, the staff literally welcomed us with open arms into the warmest hugs and most sincere joy and excitement to meet us. 

     We began the morning with a devotional starting with a time of worship, singing the most beautiful worship songs in Nyanja. (I have no clue what they were singing the whole time, but it was so neat to be able to worship alongside them to the same Father and hear their genuine yearning for the Lord in their lives.) After worship came a time of prayer. The way these men and women pray is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. There is such passion and diligence in the way that they communicate to the Lord and come before Him, and it is so neat to be able to experience that. It has humbled me and given me a new perspective on my own prayer life and the way I come before our Father, so I am excited to press in deeper to that throughout the summer. After prayer we dug into the passages in Isaiah 60:1-5 and discussed how we are to be lights for the Lord in order that we and others might see the glory of the Lord.
     Later in the afternoon we got to make our first drive out to Chongwe where some of the My Father’s House kids live, which is about 45 minutes away from the office in the country. During the drive to Chongwe I learned another valuable cultural lesson about Zambians –they are kind of scary drivers and yield to no people or animals. As soon as we pulled into the gates of the My Father’s House homes in Chongwe, a flood of children surrounded the vans and began screaming and literally jumping with joy that we were there. They each had the biggest smiles on their faces I have ever seen, and before we could even get our whole bodies out of the van, they were tugging on our arms and impatiently waiting their turn to learn our names and touch our hands. We got to spend the next couple of hours running around and learning these kids by name and face, what they like to do for fun, and simply just sitting and watching them. It is so exciting to finally meet these kids, and I can already see such shining personalities in each of them after knowing them just a couple of hours. Here are just a couple of funny and sweet memories off the top of my head from our first couple of hours together: 5 year old Doreen singing big booty while enjoying a piggy back ride from Kate, Juliet making up dance moves to every game we played and shaking her booty like none other, 5 year old Michael doing cartwheels and karate moves nonstop, playing soccer and volleyball with Andrew, Aaron, Alick, and more, getting my hair braided by what started as one –no wait now 10 girls surrounding me, and sitting in the dirt with Precious who is a new addition to MFH and is deaf and only speaks Nyanja. Despite all that these children do not have, their joy far outweighs their painful pasts and heartaches, and I cannot wait to learn and experience more of them throughout the summer. Needless to say, after spending less than 3 hours with these kids, they have already stolen a piece of my heart that I don’t think I will ever get back. And I don’t think I want to get back.

Zambian soil!

After two days of traveling and overcoming the many obstacles of international airports and super long flights we have finally made it to Zambia in one piece! We had a few close calls with cancelled flights, accidentally packing weapons (Christina), and a few minor mishaps, but none the less we are here safe and sound and ready to go! Today we start our first day of work in the office and I can't wait for the adventures to begin.

"But now O LORD,

       You are our Father.

We are the clay and you are the potter;

                We are all the work of your HAND."

Isaiah 64:8

I head out bright and early tomorrow morning for my beautiful crazy adventure to Zambia for the summer! I cannot believe it is finally here, but I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store, and to finally meet my new friends over there. I am so overjoyed and excited at the opportunity to be the work of His Hands this summer as I serve in Zambia. These past few weeks have been filled with much anticipation and I have no clue what all this summer will hold for me, but I can't wait to find out and share.